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1952 Illinois

4–⁠5 (2–⁠5 Western Conference), coached by Ray Eliot.

Schedule and results

Illinois in 1952, game by game: won vs. Iowa State 33–7; lost at No. 8 Wisconsin 6–20; won vs. Washington 48–14; lost at Minnesota 7–13; lost vs. Purdue 12–40; won at No. 15 Michigan 22–13; won at Iowa 33–13; lost vs. Ohio State 7–27; lost vs. Northwestern 26–28+34−28Won 33–7 vs. Iowa State+26Iowa StateLost 6–20 at No. 8 Wisconsin-14No. 8 WisconsinWon 48–14 vs. Washington+34WashingtonLost 7–13 at Minnesota-6MinnesotaLost 12–40 vs. Purdue-28PurdueWon 22–13 at No. 15 Michigan+9No. 15 MichiganWon 33–13 at Iowa+20IowaLost 7–27 vs. Ohio State-20Ohio StateLost 26–28 vs. Northwestern-2Northwestern
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 27vsIowa StateW 33–⁠781%
Oct 4at8WisconsinL 6–⁠2048%
Oct 11vsWashingtonW 48–⁠1476%
Oct 18atMinnesotaL 7–⁠1374%
Oct 25vsPurdueL 12–⁠4070%
Nov 1at15MichiganW 22–⁠1341%
Nov 8atIowaW 33–⁠1371%
Nov 15vsOhio StateL 7–⁠2770%
Nov 22vsNorthwesternL 26–⁠2879%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Northwestern 28–⁠26; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Western Conference.

In program history: The 47th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 5
  2. Wk 2: 2
  3. Wk 3: 13
  4. Wk 4: 17

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1952.

Record
4–⁠5
Conference
2–⁠5 tied for 6th in Western Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 2
Points
194–⁠175
Coach
Ray Eliot
Elo
1560 −100 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
10.5 No. 27 of 113 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
Al Brosky
Most valuable player
Al Brosky

All-Big Ten

3 first team

First team

  • Tommy O’ConnellB
  • Frank WodziakDEAP-1
  • Al BroskySAP-1

From Wikipedia’s 1952 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1952 Western Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Wisconsin4–⁠1–⁠16–⁠3–⁠111
Purdue4–⁠1–⁠14–⁠3–⁠218
Ohio State5–⁠26–⁠317
Michigan4–⁠25–⁠4
Minnesota3–⁠1–⁠24–⁠3–⁠2
Illinois2–⁠54–⁠5
Northwestern2–⁠52–⁠6–⁠1
Iowa2–⁠52–⁠7
Indiana1–⁠52–⁠7

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.